Opposition Leader blames PUP

While the leadership of CAPU has been careful to keep the anti-BTL movement out of partisan politics, it is not surprising that both parties have sought to put their own spin on the protests. Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow, has been vocal in his condemnation of government’s role in events leading up to the new rates.

Dean Barrow, Leader of the Opposition

“My party’s position is that while we absolutely support the organisers of the protest movement, whose objective is to have the new rates reviewed, we insist that nobody should lose sight of the double dealing role that the government has played in all this. We insist that the government should be held to the flame, and that people should be made to understand that this basically is a situation of the government’s making. That is was the government that sold the majority shareholding in B.T.L. to the current owners. That it was the government that had the opportunity, by way of developing the law, to provide for the rate setting mechanisms that could have avoided the present problems; and that that government has failed on both these scores even though now the government tries to pretend that it is an advocate for the consumer and that it would wish to bring B.T.L. to heel. We don’t buy it and we think the government needs to be exposed.”

Ann-Marie Williams

“What happens tomorrow if an election is called and your party will be the next government, in terms of the people and B.T.L. and their telephone rates. Is there a way forward?”

Dean Barrow

“Well there is a way forward, because legislation can be passed that is proper legislation to deal with this situation. We also feel that the government has no credibility, but that our party would be in a far better negotiating position.”

The PUP has claimed that Barrow has his own credibility problem, pointing out that Barrow’s law firm does a large amount of legal work for the Belize Bank, which like BTL, is owned by Michael Ashcroft’s Carlisle Holdings.